For those of us who collected Westminster in their original issues through
the early 60s, the label was appreciated for its A&R, covers and overall
production values but not specifically for what later became known as
"audiophile" aspects. The catalogue was a grab-bag of sources —
Ducretet-Thomson, Selmer, Vega, Swedish Discofil, Argo, and Soviet material
from Leeds — in addition to the Kurt List productions. Some of the
made-for-Nixa recordings were indeed impressive, as were the beautiful Vega
stereos with Munch and Manuel Rosenthal (some of which were never converted
to CD by anyone). After the original 5000 series and later 18000 series,
Westminster Gold seemed like schlock, which I suppose proves that nostalgia
is based on what was around when you entered the game.
DDR
On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 7:03 AM, Carl Pultz <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> They may sound okay, but they won't have the stunning covers of those
> treasurable Westminster Golds. Or the packaging excess of the
> Double-Deckers. I have only a sampling (the Beethoven 6 and Mahler 2 stand
> out). But it would be nice to have all the Scherchen. That's all I want.
> Everything.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Clark Johnsen
> Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2013 9:14 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Westminster Legacy series
>
> I asked a friend of mine in Japan to look at the A-zon site and tell me the
> gist of what the commenters said about the set, especially the sound. This
> is what I just got back:
>
> The commenters talk mostly about the great performances, the incredibly low
> price, and how pleased they are to be able to revisit these performances
> that they grew up with on LP. One person mentions that he has heard there
> will be a second boxed set coming out soon! Reading these comments warmed
> my heart. There is quite a substantial group of (mostly older) Japanese
> classical music aficionados who keep the music industry going here. Tower
> Records Japan (owned separately from the defunct Tower in the U.S.) has a
> fantastic classical CD floor in their Shibuya store, probably on part with
> my long-lamented favorite store--the Tower on Newbury Street in Boston. In
> Shibuya, they invite artists every Saturday to perform and talk. I've seen
> Kyung-wha Chung, Misha Maisky, etc.
>
> Almost none of the reviewers mentions the sound (well, one did say you
> couldn't download this quality of sound, and another said most of the sound
> was good, but not a single review put much focus on the sound); on the
> other hand, this may mean that no one was bothered by bad sound quality.
> The type of person who is interested in these historical performances
> probably doesn't place so much weight on sound.
>
> Mike V.
>
> / clark
>
--
Dennis D. Rooney
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New York, NY 10023
212.874.9626
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